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darkscorpiox · 9 months

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Utena - Analysis on the opening

I don’t know if someone has already done it, but here’s my interpretation of the opening.

Warning: very, VERY long post and mention of scenes from the show, enough to be considered spoilers (sorry 😅)

Edit: I’ve made an analysis on the first ending as well

Let’s live heroically, let’s live with style. (Just a long, long time.)

The opening starts with our two main characters naked and in a fetal position, indicating their status of “newborn” in the story. Then, they are clad in the garbs of their respective roles. Interestingly, despite facing and leaning toward each other, their eyes remain close. In the case of Utena, it symbolizes her inability to see beyond her own narrative of the heroic prince saving the princess. As for Anthy, it’s her resignation to not see anything beyond her role of Rose Bride which she has played for decades/centuries, hence the long, long time.

Even if the two of us are torn apart… (Let go of me…) …take my revolution.

In the next sequence, not only are they not looking at each other, but they are also back-to-back, another indication that they are positioned to be at odds with each other, whether they want to or not. Still, despite the obstacles thrown at them, despite Anthy’s attempts to make Utena give up on her (“Let go of me…”), the latter doesn’t stop telling her to take her hand (revolution) and that’s what she did.

In the sunlit garden, we both joined out hands.

Miki’s sunlit garden is an idealized memory, so it makes sense to compare Utena’s goal of becoming a prince to the former. Also, the tower, where her journey is supposed to end with her heteronormative “happily ever after”, is where she and Anthy join hands and the latter’s revolution begins.

The sequence where Utena walks with the male students has a “one of the boys” kind of vibe and that might have been the intent. The tomboy character may appear progressive by refusing to conform to traditionally feminine gender norms, but that’s instead a sexist concept because it implies that Utena’s gender, her femininity (and by association, anything branded as “girly”), is the one thing that makes her less than her fellow male schoolmates. Also, she looks over her shoulder, something or someone (Anthy?) catching her attention which stops her from blindly following the other boys’ lead.

Drawing close for comfort, we both swore…

In Anthy’s case, due to her hair and skin color, the vibe she emanates as she walks with her fellow female schoolmates is “not like other girls”, another trope which hurts women by marginalizing the few “different/special ones” from the “normal/average ones” or vice versa. However, the reason she turned around (Utena? Her perspicacity?) is what helps her preserve the part of her identity which is still deep within her. So being different isn’t a bad thing as long as every person, especially girls, are given the same courtesy.

If you read the Japanese lyrics, you would know chikai (from chikau, meaning “to swear/vow”) is at the beginning of Anthy’s sequence, when we see the gates of Ohtori, where she swears to find Utena again.

(Also, did you notice that their respective sequences begin with a shot of where their story in Ohtori ends?)

…never again would we ever fall in love. (Every time.)

This line is sung as our two protagonists stand face to face in Anthy’s cage-like greenhouse, where the cycle of the quest for revolution always (re)starts. That vow of never falling in love again, along with that Every time, makes me wonder about how many games had taken place before Utena. How many times had Anthy been engaged to a “chosen one”? How many of those “chosen ones” did she grow to love, yet still choose to betray? How many times did she swore to never love another again only to do so despite said promise to herself? Utena, by ending the cycle, makes the vow mentioned before much sweeter: she and Anthy choose to never fall in love again because they have pledged their love for each other till death do them part (like a married couple 🥰🤵🏻‍♀️👰🏾‍♀️🥰).

I see that photo of us standing cheek to cheek… …and place a bit of my loneliness in our smiles. (Revolution!)

At this moment, the past represented by Utena and Anthy lying down, facing each other, and the future represented by the lyrics paralleled each other.

Past: a (naively) smiling Utena and a (falsely) smiling Anthy -> Anthy gives the white rose, the symbol of the Prince and by association, patriarchy, the source of her eternal pain, to Utena who is unaware of the dark history connected to it -> (failed) Revolution by dueling (transition to the dueling arena)

Future: the photo at the end of Episode 39 -> Anthy’s longing for Utena -> (successful) Revolution by leaving Akio

Even if I dream, even if I cry, even if I get hurt… …reality keeps on coming recklessly.

This sequence is about the Duelists.

Utena being the one who dreams is self-explanatory.

Saionji, if you pause at the right time, is seen with tears in his eyes. Behind his arrogant attitude is nothing but a mentally weak and insecure boy who throws violent tantrums when things don’t go his way.

Juri is no doubt the one most hurt in the series, not only because of her gender, but also because of her sexual orientation (I’ve made a post about it).

Miki and Nanami being the ones hit by reality makes sense due to the knowledge they idealize the relationship they shared with their respective siblings when they were children.

But what about Touga? Maybe it’s the confidence that he could get the power to revolutionize the (his) world if he emulates the system which had hurt him only to realize that such way of doing things won’t get him closer to his goal. Or, since he’s the first antagonist of the show, giving us a taste of what Akio, another male character whose inside is the opposite of his princely front, could do to girls, maybe he represents the reality/truth of the (imperfect) world.

All these Duelists, these teenagers, fight each other for a purpose and that later turns out to be futile after they find out that the rules they play by are a cover for a much more sinister plot.

I wanna find my own place, the value of being…

The first half, we focus on Utena who raises her sword with a determined look as the blue sky turned golden and the dueling arena crumbled. Utena rejects the narrative Akio wants for her and in the process, breaks the world he has created (and kept Anthy in).

While we zoom in on Utena, symbolizing her will to move forward, it’s the opposite with Anthy. Expression blank, she put some distance between her and Utena/the viewer(s), letting herself (her true self) disappear with Akio’s self-made world.

This sequence foreshadows what will happen in Episode 38.

…the person I’ve been until now…

But as it is shown in Episode 39, Anthy didn’t disappear in the fall of Akio’s world and stood up against her brother (riding a horse), mirroring Utena.

Also, we see Dios opens his eyes as the dueling arena crumbles to dust.

In Episode 13, Akio is conversing with a “sealed” Dios who “glare[s] at” him for wanting to bring the Prince back into the world. Dios had been “sealed away” because playing Prince had been killing him. Anthy had become the world’s sole target of their hatred so that he would no longer carry that great burden on his shoulders ever again. Dios is angry at Akio for not only trying to turn her sacrifice into a fruitless endeavor, but for also taking part in her eternal torment by making her an accomplice in his scheme.

Akio has internalized the teachings of patriarchy. He now idealizes the Prince, forgetting that his current self isn’t the result of Anthy sealing the latter’s power away. He had, of his own volition, casted away his “nobility” and enjoyed the privileges of his gender. He was free of the duties expected from the Prince yet chose to not use that freedom to search for a way to save his sister without taking on that mantle again. Protected by a patriarchal system, Akio is in fact afraid of carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders again despite his desire to return to his “glory days”. He wants to be the Prince again (regression), but also doesn’t want to give up his life of privilege. There is no step toward self-improvement. And that’s why his quest for revolution is nothing but a pretext to play people like a fiddle, especially the vulnerable ones like children and women. I think he subconsciously knows he’s maintaining a perpetual cycle meant to end in failure, but he’s too lost in his self-centeredness to take a third option, to destroy the limits of his coffin. In other words, Akio must let patriarchy (manifested through the game and the dueling arena) disappear in order to regain the lost part of him that is Dios, because what the latter really wants is to live in a better world, one where Princes aren’t needed anymore.

Let’s find the strength to throw it all away. Strip down to nothing all.

Utena having the strength to throw everything away references her decision to give up on the heteronormative “happy ending” given to her at the cost of Anthy’s well-being.

Anthy being stripped of everything references her true (naked) self within her coffin.

Become like rose petals, blowing free!

Honestly, that part was a bit difficult to interpret. We do see petals blown in the wind when Utena beats boys at basketball, but the only time I saw them concerning Anthy (and by association, the duels) was when the Duelist gets “deflowered”, and I didn’t get a feeling of freedom from it. Or so I thought at first. Knowing that the duels are part of Akio’s plot which is nothing but a wild goose chase, it makes sense in the context that losing means some time away from Akio’s control and thus, a chance to reflect and for self-improvement. Also, if the dueling arena is like a groomed flower, then its rubble is the petals. This might be foreshadowed in Episode 9, when Anthy falls with rose petals scattered everywhere as Utena tries to catch her.

Even if the two of us are torn apart… …I swear that I will change the world.

We have a return of Even if the two of us are torn apart… (Let go of me…) / …take my revolution. This time, there’s no request to let go of the other party and Utena is taking the next step toward (self-)improvement. If you pause at the right time, you can see she is not in a fetal position like at the beginning of the opening. Now, it looks like she is opening herself to the real world.

Anthy is not present, but that’s because she hasn’t reunited with Utena yet. Until that day comes, the latter will keep fighting for the world both deserve to live in.

In conclusion, the opening is a summary of the entire series and foreshadows how it would end.

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ukyou-kuonji · 2 months

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Recently I've been thinking a lot about "The Cowbell of Happiness" episode of Revolutionary Girl Utena, and specifically the background song Donna Donna. I actually grew up singing and hearing the English song a lot (which afaik predates the Japanese version but isn't itself the original language?), and thus had an assumed interpretation of the lyrics' application to the shows themes, which I've been changing my interpretation of. However it has been about eight years since I saw the show, so feel free to disagree with me or correct my interpretation! I put a cut in due to the length, sorry it got a bit away from me haha.

I always saw the farmer's mockery of the calf in the second verse "Stop complaining says the Farmer/Who told you a calf to be/Why don't you have wings to fly with/Like the swallow so proud and free," to be an ironic statement. The calf was born a calf, and cannot change it's species more than a person can control the circumstances of their birth. Therefore the third verse, which states "Calves are easily bound and slaughtered/Never knowing the reason why/But whomever treasures freedom/Like the swallow must learn to fly," drives home the impossible truth. You don't want to be exploited? Simply don't be born within an exploited group. The calf's fate is unavoidable, because of his inherent and unchangeable identity and the way society perceives and reacts to it. It is incapable of learning to fly by it's very nature.

This relates to the themes of the show by paralleling Nanami (or later, through extended metaphors and parallels, both Anthy and Utena, among others) to the calf. These characters cannot help being teenage girls navigating the patriarchy, and cannot escape their exploitation. The world within which they exist (Ohtori) does not permit them an alternative existence. This interpretation is very bleak, I know.

But I think this interpretation only engages with one half of the story it sets up, and completely ignores the swallow. This feels particularly erroneous due to the show's bird imagery (the name Ohtori, the prominence of the dead sparrows associated with Kozue and Shiori, the school archways shaped like birdcages to give a few examples, all of which associate students with egg, chick, or bird visual metaphors). Mostly, I thought of the infamous egg speech appropriated from Demian by Hermann Hesse. As Touga and others state in the Revolutionary Girl Utena reconstruction of the original text "If the egg's shell does not break, the chick will die without being born. We are the chick; the egg is the world. If the world's shell does not break, we will die without being born. Break the world's shell!"

Through this, the swallow seems directly implicated as a viable alternative for the calf, or for characters such as Nanami, Utena, and Anthy. The only way for them to avoid being exploited as women within Ohtori or "slaughtered as calves on the farm," to use the language of the song, is for them to self actualize or reject the reality presented to them and move beyond the limitations placed on them through the label of "woman" in a heteronormative and patriarchal system. They must defy the very conditions that determine their condition. Or rather, they must break the world's (Ohtori's) shell, be born as the chick, and take flight as birds. This is what Utena attempts to do in the finale, and what Anthy does do by stepping away from Ohtori and Akio's influence.

The song that seemed to condemn Nanami to life as livestock in episode 16 also promises hope and foreshadows Anthy's choice episode 39. She, like the swallow, has learned to fly, and the other characters have the potential to do so also, provided they value freedom and develop the wings to leave.

#revolutionary girl utena #nanami #nanami kiryuu #utena tenjou #anthy himemiya #shut up urbs

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immaterial-pearl · 8 months

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hello i’d like to hear your Utena thoughts 🫶 proof of my good will and Utena insanity

OKAY SO!!!!! I’m on Akio saga (today I watched the first episode of it actually) and I have spoiled some of it for myself. BUT HERE ARE SOME OF MY THOUGHTS SO FAR!!!

-I love Anthy. She’s my favourite character.

-THE MUSIC IS SO GOOD. SO GOOD. Sometimes I rewatch the duels just so I can focus on the song duels lyrics.

-Shadow girls are one of my favourite aspects of the show. Plato’s cave is a inside joke for me and my irl friend group so they quickly started living in my head rent free.

Sorry I got distracted by my roommate’s shitty dinner (stale bread cheese toasts). Anyways back to Revolutionary Girl Utena.

-Nanami episodes are great I love how well they compliment the main story. My favourite so far was the cowbell episode… It highlights how other characters tend to see Nanami as vain and shallow, even though they follow similar patterns. Like all of these characters are playing roles laid out for them, they’re following End Of The World’s script. I’m not sure if this is worded right but I hope this makes sense.

-Even though the animation is clearly made on a low budget it all works so well. Like the repetetive sequences, especially with the fact that time passes differently in Ohtori (I’m guessing they are trapped in a time loop of some sorts, caused by their inability to become adults and let go of their idealised memories).

-I loved Mikage’s whole deal and Anthy manipulating him.

-Anthy’s and Utena’s relationship!!! Obv I’m not done with the show yet but just seeing how Anthy is slowly showing more of herself to Utena, sometimes letting herself be more Anthy than Rose Bride… Also the fact that Utena seemed to ignore a lot of the power she had over Anthy early on and slowly starts to give her more space.

I love your Utena VHS tapes (I’m assuming they are that based on the shape, but I’m not sure because I can’t zoom in on them while answering the ask on mobile). I’m excited to watch more and I’m always down to chat!!!!

(I’m sorry I wrote so much I rarely get asks so this is very exciting to me).

#revolutionary girl utena tag #revolutionary girl utena

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aguacerotropical · 1 year

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“In SKU this is only hinted at, the most direct way in which the story addresses the idea is the episode Nanami's Egg, a lengthy metaphor of a girl's first menstruation which also addresses girl facing the responsibility of motherhood in the way Nanami deals with the egg, considering both nurturing it with joy and care, and abandoning it when her brother reacts negatively to the possibility of her being a teenage mother. Actually Touga's reactions in Nanami's Egg – besides hysterically hypocritical – very much address the way men seek to control women's sexuality as capacity of reproduction : forbidding Nanami to express a lesbian sexuality that would prevent her from the reproductive role assigned by Patriarchal society; but also forbidding Nanami from reproduction outside the norm of a marriage-alliance decided by the men. The episode also ties the whole event to the idea of reincarnation, which thematically opposes the idea of Eternity, the stasis of the coffin that the Duelist seek to maintain and escape from at the same time and which, in the end, we learn is Anthy's punishment : eternal pain. In the entering the duel arena sequence, also, while the images are of yonic symbols, the lyrics talk mainly of the idea of reproduction, birth and death”.

etrangender on LJ

#the idea of reincarnation.... hit right in the 'my family are into the occult' feels #revolutionary girl utena #meta #rgu #(YES we're in the looking up decade+ old LJ posts on wayback machine type madness)#(btw ik this idea of reincarnation is buddhist but other spiritual practices believe in it too esp some occult stuff)

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portalpylon · 9 months

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on what planet is tswift lesbian failgirl music. tswift is by the straights for the straights 😭

i mean... not all of her music is lesbian failgirl music, i was mostly joking. however, i am a gaylor and some of her music can be interpreted through a sapphic lens. its okay to disagree with me! but fully discounting her music as "by straights for straights" is very black and white thinking. lots of lesbian failgirls have songs from folklore and evermore on their gay sadgirl playlists, and i think juri would too. ivy and betty are especially gay songs in my opinion. here's a utena/anthy amv to ivy :) taylor's music is also appealing to lesbians/sapphics because a lot of her lyrics use "you" instead of pronouns!

#thanks for the question though!#i get the hostility bc ts is very polarizing #i'm not about to white knight for her or anything but its sad to be up in arms over sapphic interpretations of her lyrics #idk #anonymous

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faerthingpen · 6 years

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“I go wild cause you break me open Wild, ‘cause you left me here Wild, because the chips are down Wild, because there isn’t anybody else around Wild when the waves start to break And God knows they’re breaking in me now I go wild because it doesn’t make sense For me to cry out in my own defense And wild ‘cause I would do anything To tear you off your precious fence So this is what it’s like living in limbo First I’m high then I’m so low…” - Wild, Poe

#Revolutionary Girl Utena #Anthy Himemiya #I don't normally do song lyric postsbut this raw song from Poe pairs well with the feeling I get from Anthy here #Once again baring herself with apparent apathy #hiding behind her staring eyes a sense of anger and pain #And I like to think in some ways the lyrics speak to both Akio and Utena #The image of living in Limbo very much reminds me of that shot of Anthy naked across the cosmos under Akio

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mokushiyami · 2 years

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Sorry for spamming asks but what do you think the shadow girls are, or what do they represent, as a whole rather than just within the context of individual skits?

I was in school and i couldn’t get to this earlier but never apologize for making me talk about utena i greatly enjoy it.

So the shadow girls are the only reliable narrators in Utena. They are the only ones who have all the information and are not affected by their own emotions being in the picture.

However a major contributor / help in understanding Utena is Plato’s allegory of the cave. In Plato’s allegory of the cave prisoners are chained and they cannot look at each other only at a wall in front of them, in which artists are moving objects and creating shadows. Since the prisoners have been there from childhood but not birth, to them, the shadows are reality. The voices they hear are really coming from the shadows and not from the artists behind them. This directly ties to the shadow girls as we as viewers in the beginning only see their plays as mere fairytales or comedic relief. To us what we see is what we understand.

However when one of the prisoners leaves the cave at first he is blinded by the light as he is not used to it, much like how the black rose arc hits us in the gut and can be overwhelming for first time viewers because the tone shift is very dramatic. The prisoner then would want to go back to what he knows, go back to the cave, the same way the characters keep on returning to their cycles of abuse. Suppose an external force makes the prisoner leave and see the sun, slowly he is accustomed to the light (in this case has gained external knowledge and can now accurately see that what was his reality was a projection of the actors behind the screen).

Furthermore, Plato states that the prisoner would then go back to the cave to help the others see the truth as well, however as he is now accustomed to the sun, he can no longer see in the cave leaving him blind. The other prisoners would then rationalize that the outside world hurt him and would turn down any attempt to be freed (directly tying in with the last episodes where anthy ‘betrays’ Utena thought the allegory also states that with enough drive it is possible for the prisoners to be freed i.e. Utena’s lover convincing Anthy that she truly has a choice to escape Ohtori).

So back to the shadow girls, as the show progresses , we the audience, are the prisoners who have escaped. We can now see what the plays truly mean and what they foreshadow (in the cave the shadows are a form of indoctrination) but the characters are still blind to the sun. They still see the plays as just that fairytales. They do not see them as projections (projections are a recurring motif in rgu and i can write a whole post about it too). Which is why a lot of us get frustrated in the few occasions where Utena interacts with the shadow girls because they are clearly warning her but she does not see it. But we have to understand that she does not have the outsider knowledge we have.

But even the shadow girls are not all knowing. They have glimpses of information, more than utena and the audience, less than akio and anthy. So they deliver a version of the truth, a distorted version of the truth, but truth nonetheless.

They also serve another version from a storytelling perspective, akin to a greek chorus. The purpose of a greek chorus in ancient greek plays, which is a group of performs who are in an inbetween place, they are part of the play but they also serve as an idealized audience as they comment on the actions and themes that take place in the play. August Schlegel (highly recommend reading his poetry and critics) said that the greek chorus provides the viewer "a lyrical and musical expression of his own emotions, and elevates him to the region of contemplation". Thus they shows us what the characters in the show do not say outwardly but their inner conflicts and fears, which is exactly what the plays of the shadow girls (which can be considered lyrical to a degree) give us.

This turned out longer than i expected but the shadow girls are one of my favourite aspects of the show and there’s also another theory of them having this information as they have previously been part of the duels that is also worth looking into.

#revolutionary girl utena #rgu #shojou kakumei utena #sku #shadow girls #shadow girls rgu #c-ko #b-ko #a-ko #rgu meta #my analysis

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pahrak-the-sinnoh-slizer · 3 years

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Okay I’m gonna try compiling my Utena thoughts now

-I’m definitely glad to have watched it, definitely enjoyed parts of it...would probably say that I like it overall?

-But there is some BIG fucking y i k e s sprinkled throughout; certain things get really uncomfortable when you consider the characters’ ages, siblings seem to exist only to be varying levels of incestuous, and it gets worse but I gotta stop

-I mentioned things getting weird before and yeah, the show can be pretty surreal at times, though I see that as a plus and often it leads to it being funny as shit (the curry episode had me dying)

-Related to that I really appreciate how the student council scenes go from ominous and threatening to them just desperately trying to exposit while shitposts go on around them

-Not sure why they felt the need to have three recap episodes, but at least they tried doing something interesting with each (I’d say the first one had the most success in that regard)

-Definitely see how this inspired Revue Starlight, but oddly there was also a surprising amount of imagery that reminded me of Kingdom Hearts II?? I know Nomura didn’t watch this, he hates women, but someone on the team must’ve.

-Mostly like the music, though a lot of the lyrics are just, like...random words? Like, even less coherent than TWEWY lyrics. Not a sticking point or anything, just making an observation.

-Utena’s a solid protag, easy to root for

-Still haven’t figured out Anthy but I think I like her?

-Wakaba has rights

-Hate Green Fuckboy but at least he was relegated to the joke that he is

-Touga is also an enormous piece of shit but manages to be entertaining to watch from time to time, especially once we get to the fucking car

-Not to make everything about Mega Man but Miki and Juri remind me of Thetis and Atlas

-Nanami is so fucking dumb like holy shit

-I’m just...not gonna talk about Akkio...big, big yikes

-Some of the fights are a bit...eh? Like it seems like Utena kind of just decides to power up and win now? But I really like how both fights with Juri ended, those stand out to me.

-The transformation sequences were sort of unique in showing Utena marching into battle, I like that, though the first one can feel a bit long. The second does more to keep your attention, and I really like the shot at the end of petals scattering around Utena and Anthy.

-Got way more invested than I expected going into the final stretch, it was pretty gripping but I’m not sure how I feel about the ending. It could certainly be worse--I think its ambiguity really helps it out, because I can make a guess about where things go from here and be pleased with that direction, even if that might not be what everyone gets from it.

-Still need to watch the movie, that’ll probably happen sometime this weekend

-Apparently they did some sort of epilogue recently? I’m very curious about that.

#Revolutionary Girl Utena #Pahrak watches anime

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whoslaurapalmer · 3 years

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more utena thoughts after five episodes, mostly just me going ‘i have only a vague knowledge about where this is going to go and every six seconds i say I’M CONCERNED’ but like, in a good way

-so far it’s living up to my expectations!!!! i’m very pleased!!! very excited!!!!!! -i was trying to figure out how to explain the, cryptic end of the world with, it’s a middle school shojo anime, and then i thought ‘oh! it really is twin peaks, isn’t it’

-that opening song is catchy as fuck!!!!

-wakaba is an angel and i love her and i know this show is probably gonna be to good for this but now i really do want Pre-Series Friend Who Shows Up In The First Episode And Is Never Heard From Again Once The Plot Kicks In, for safety reasons

-utena’s hair is so pretty!! -i don’t know what it is but every time i see her part of me says ‘enjolras’ -i have been in too many fandoms.

the student council: /shows up me: oh that escalated quickly. i jump every time they show up because WELL THAT WAS SUDDEN

touga: /exists me: ew no i do not like you fuck off

-who was supposed to fight saionji???????? or was it always going to be utena???????

-me, idly, at the beginning of ep 2, watching all the ohtori academy scenery: gee, is the whole world ohtori? the student council like a hot second later: if we don't break the world's shell we will die without being born me, panicking: um????

utena: why do you go along with it??? anthy: why do you dress like a prince? utena: ...because i like it! me, screaming: y’all

-those, duel song lyrics are, oh that’s a lot

-i would still die for chu-chu and shadow girls are still the best

-miki you just acknowledged anthy has a right to freedom and now you are Fighting For The Girl -ohhhhh no that’s the point

-i don’t know which was better. the actual gasp i made at the pencil case full of those sweet sweet snails or the face i made at chu-chu eating nanami’s food -that mongoose was friend-shaped!!!!!

#lulu talks about utena

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darkscorpiox · 8 months

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Utena - Analysis on the (first) ending

I did an analysis on the opening, so here’s one on the first ending.

Warning: very, VERY long post and mention of scenes from the show, enough to be considered spoilers (sorry)

Missing truth and forever, kissing love and true your heart. Hold me in your arms so true. The key to unlock tomorrow is reality.

We start with the silhouettes of two individuals, male and female respectively, close to each other with reddish/orangish roses in the background. A picturesque depiction of the fairytale romance between a man and his woman: we only see the superficial layer of the individuals and the roses are there to maintain the illusion of a romantic narrative. Then, we have outlines and colors. And though we get to see the princess’s face, it is not the case with the prince. The fact that one is more exposed (vulnerable) than the other shows some degree of inequality between them. It doesn’t help that Utena, unlike the outspoken way we see her in the first episode, appears subdued in the arms of her beloved Prince. This shows that things aren’t as they seem. And that’s without the lyrics of the song.

Missing truth and forever actually mean the same thing. The latter is another way to say “eternity” and eternity is the pain Anthy suffers at the hands of patriarchy, the truth kept hidden behind the veneer which is the Prince. In contrast, kissing love and true your heart allude to the climax of the last episode, when Utena’s sincere love for Anthy reaches the heart of the latter’s authentic self. Knowing this, the arms so true aren’t the prince’s, but Utena’s and / or Anthy’s.

The third line refers to the “revolution” everyone seeks. To change the world, to be free of the limbo that is the past, they must face and move toward reality.

I want to keep on smashing lies apart.

This line shows similarities to the Student council’s speech about “crack[ing] the world’s shell”, so they must share the same message. Interestingly, Utena closes her eyes and Anthy opens hers. It can imply that the former refuses to see the lies presented to her, but the latter is the one aware of the machinations behind the scenes and Akio’s true nature, so it might be opposite, the denial of the truth.

No matter how much the two of us may talk… …you still just can’t see anything. Excuses are fitting for the adults who just cling to old stories.

The first two lines are a good summary of the dynamic between Utena and Akio. The former is under the princely charm of the latter, but subconsciously, she knows that he only sees her as a frail little girl to use as he pleases, meaning he might as well see nothing (denying the ugly truth). When the third line comes, the trail of roses ends, indicating Utena’s realization that the Prince is not who she thought he was (Akio). It’s the end of the fantasy, the lie, created from her idealized memories.

The angels who were passed over don’t need wings to fly!

As a witch, a fallen woman, Anthy is spurned by society. However, that doesn’t mean she has to settle with the little given to her (Dios / Akio). That’s what Utena wants to tell her (hence why she occupies the screen for a moment before we focus on Anthy). By choosing Anthy instead of the fairytale happy ending, Utena becomes a fallen woman as well, but she refuses to be just that. Her self-worth should not be determined by others, especially a system which limits her to a “good” or “bad” social standing (Madonna-whore complex). If the world won’t give her the same path as everyone else’s, especially men’s, then she will make one for herself (and Anthy).

Missing truth and forever, kissing love and true your heart. I like who I’ll be tomorrow and… …I’ll believe in myself because I want to believe. I want to keep on hating lies.

(Sorry for the quality. I had to lower it to stay under the limit allowed for the image/GIF file size in one post.)

A repeat of the first four lines. This time, it’s about the belief in a better future and the lack of regret in leaving the past and the lies behind.

Utena and Anthy are both in the clutches of the Prince / patriarchy, but this time, the greenish wilting-looking roses are in the background. It can imply that the illusion is now dead to them and that they can finally see the truth.

In conclusion, the ending summarizes and foreshadows Utena’s and Anthy’s character development.

#revolutionary girl utena #shoujo kakumei utena #rgu #sku #utena #utena tenjou #anthy himemiya #utena x anthy #anthy x utena #prince dios #akio ohtori #revolutionary girl utena analysis #rgu analysis #revolutionary girl utena meta #rgu meta #truth #mine

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pdaliceliveblogs · 4 years

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asks from last ep!

Oh, I like that idea a lot. Admittedly I haven’t been paying a lot of attention to the duel theme lyrics-- I guess I really should! But yeah, I think not only is he a manipulator like her, but that she’s also manipulating herself, you know? Trying to make things go the way she feels they should.

Yeah, it’s really neat, huh? I love how the duels are more than just the physical competition; it’s a microcosm of the relationships involved. Like a fusion....

ahaha some Cupids are great! That one on the fountain is just insufferable xD;;;

It took me a minute to figure out what you were referring to-- back to the egg episode, when he gives Nanami the Adam and Eve speech, right?-- but that’s an interesting way to look at it. It could be the avoidance of a lie, but it could also be the calm eye-close of smugness; I certainly got the impression that he was manipulating her there. I also think that the fact he’s been sleeping with Akio doesn’t necessarily mean that saying he likes girls “better” is a lie; he certainly doesn’t like girls as people but girls could still be his primary sexual interest. I’ve been assuming he’s bi.

“so love me instead”, huh...

...ah. I see.

Okay, I’m probably going to come off super oblivious here, but it genuinely hadn’t occurred to me Ruka wanted Juri for himself? I thought he was just being mean to her, putting her down, tormenting her. I see him as a manipulative and cruel person, but it had entirely slipped my notice that he was being awful to Juri to try and get her. I thought he was angry with her for being a good fencing captain and/or had been sent in by Akio to cause some trouble because the Student Council was starting to step away from the duels.

...that’s an interesting read. We haven’t seen Utena show any real attraction to a guy, not that I’ve seen, just flustered embarrassment, and her relationship with Anthy is one of the most blazingly tender and romantic ones I’ve seen in television, so I can’t really imagine her not being interested in women. She hasn’t really shown specifically sexual attraction, no, but she has shown romantic attraction in spades, and a lot of the more blatant sexuality in this show is manipulative so I’m not surprised it stays only around the more symbolic edges, with Utena, who is very forthright.

But, seriously... the tenderness as Anthy dresses her for the duels, their intertwined hands, the blatantly wedding-themed shots at the end of the absolute destiny apocalypse sequence, the fact that her entire arc thus far seems to be centred around discarding the heteronormative role she’s been placed into and finding her own truth... not to mention her kissing Anthy on the mouth just off screen in EP2.

And sure, her being straight wouldn’t mean that her gender non conformity was less of a compelling storyline, but... she isn’t? I really don’t want to be rude here, but there’s a part of me going “what show have you been watching???”

As for Wakaba, it is possible that her love for Utena is platonic affection dressed in a romantic mold, but I don’t see a particular reason to read it that way, especially since she repeatedly got disappointed when Utena dismissed it as joking.

As for Juri, I love the stuffing out of her and just want her to move forward and be self-sufficient and happy. And I think I called Ruka an asshat enough times in the last few posts that you know what I think of him by now, lol

#revolutionary girl utena #shojo kakumei utena #utena #pdaliceblogs #rgublog #utena liveblog #rgu 28 #asks #anonymous #cypsiman2 #gaston26 #majuu-ou

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jewlwpet · 5 years

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Do you know what ''tamago to BETTO no damashiai'' refers to in ''An Immortal Emperor in a Mundane Universe''?

Thank you for this question; I love talking about this stuff!

First of all, I am one of those people who assume it should be “BEDDO.” That makes more sense, and it SOUNDS like BEDDO. I can’t actually verify for myself what the written lyrics are because I don’t own any albums containing this particular song, and @empty-movement‘s link for viewing the scan of the page in question is broken, so I cannot say with 100% surety that EJ Translations is wrong to have rendered it as ベット and not ベッド... but I know they’re very easy to get mixed up. There’ve even been typos in the lyrics booklets themselves (There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Seazer meant “Patrocles” but wrote “Patroclus” by mistake in the gnomon song--or maybe autocorrect changed it), so even if I got proof that EJ’s transcription was correct... I’d still say it should be translated as “bed.”

That’s both because “BETTO” doesn’t mean anything that I’m aware of and because “egg” and “bed” have a connection, and one that relates to the rest of the song. A bed is a place of conception, and conception=eggs.

From the entry “philosophical child” (”Yes, a child of the earth is conceived, the philosophical embryo.”) in A Dictionary of Alchemical Symbols (I sadly don’t have the “bed” entry saved):

Duringthe conception and birth of the Stone the alembic is known as the *womb or the*bed of birth. The Stone is known as the *orphan and the alchemist plays therole of its foster-parent.

This is only just now occurring to me, but maybe Anthy appearing as the twins’ step-mother has something to do with this. This is also the episode where Kozue refers to Akio as her “Daddy Long-Legs.”

Anyway, I think this line expresses disillusionment, which seems to be the theme of the song, though that begs the question of whose disillusionment, because Miki, while duelling, is not feeling any such thing. I think that’s usual for songs in the third arc, though--they aren’t necessarily from the challenger’s point of view like the songs in the first two arcs are. Perhaps Kozue is the narrator here, a part of her that she isn’t showing as she outwardly pushes Miki onward.

I suspect that the titular emperor is the one mentioned in other Seazer music, including the Rose Egg Sophia and Barbara CDs, Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II. He was very into alchemy, “secret societies” like the Rosae Crucis, and the like, and it ended up costing him his throne as he was declared unfit for rule. The universe just didn’t deliver for him like he was counting on.

If EJ is right to translate the questionable word as “bets,” the meaning is probably something like that... and to be fair, the shadow play was about gambling. Only, I don’t see a connection between “egg(s)” and “bets.”

#revolutionary girl utena #shoujo kakumei utena #utena #miki kaoru #kozue kaoru #j. a. seazer #anthy himemiya #akio ohtori #anonymous #asks

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ladyloveandjustice · 5 years

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Fifteen Favorite Anime Openings- Part 3, the End, you probably saw most of these coming

The $5 tier on my patreon allows people to nominate/vote on one post a month- about anything! This is one of those posts. Go to my patreon here to learn more.

The full post/list for this available on Wordpress here.

Soul Eater Opening 1

youtube

This is such a great example of an opening that makes an effort to look cinematic and really gets its action to sync with the song. The severe camera angles and excellent pan shots, the black arrow motif running through everything so it even gives the picture a widescreen feel at times, the whole dark, halloween-y atmosphere- this opening starts off high energy and never lets up, and that’s what makes it memorable. Everything from the song to the animation style just works perfectly.

Cowboy Bebop Opening

youtube

3, 2, 1, Let’s Jam.You simply can’t do a list of amazing anime openings without including this one. The jazzy song, the bold colors and striking silhouettes, the pulpy noir style and atmosphere- as soon as you watch this, you know this is going to be a stylish anime with well crafted visuals and sense of pizzazz.

Sailor Moon Classic Opening 2

youtube

You knew it was coming. There’s a post going around Tumblr calling this particular OP “one of the most aesthetically pleasing things I’ve ever seen” and I really agree- this OP is pure eye-candy. I may love the S OP for being the only one with all the soldiers in it, but this one is definitely the best one visually, pure lavish shoujo prettiness everywhere.

The ornate, pristine palace architecture, the energetic introduction of the inner senshi, the way the moon and space motifs are incorporated beautifully throughout- particularly notable shots are the super cool one where all the demons come toward Princess Serenity in a burst of action that syncs wonderfully with the song, then there’s a top-angle shot of her blasting them away in a moon shape- it’s a powerful and gorgeous moment. The bit where her foot touches down on the beautiful etched pool and her dress billows out in a white circle that fades into the moon is also just such an elegant image. An a-plus OP all around.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood Opening 1

youtube

Another one everyone saw coming. This is like, one of my favorite anime songs, it’s impressively fast-paced, totally rockin’ and the lyrics are meaningful and relevant to the show,: tragic, hopeful and determined. I think the visuals and animation do a good job keeping up with the super fast pace of the song, which is no mean feat, and pair with the lyrics well- for instance, Scar being shown during the “I don’t have a place to go home to” is downright heartwrenching. And as typical of Brotherhood, the animation is just great to look at.

I love ALL the FMAB openings, but this one is without a doubt my favorite, and though I’d find it really hard to choose a “top five ops” this would definitely be one of them.

Revolutionary Girl Utena Opening

youtube

Finishing off on another one that’s super predictable if you know me at all, and one that would definitely also be in my top five. The definition of iconic for me and my life. The song is one of my favorites ever (seriously, when my aunt was all like “pick your favorite songs for this weird family mix CD I had no idea what to pick so I was just like ‘well this one represents one of my favorite anime and is gay and will confuse her which will be funny so I’ll go with that”). IT IS MY MOTTO. THE ESSENCE OF WHO I AM, CLEARLY. LIVE YOUR LIFE HEROICALLY, LIVE IT WITH STYLE. BECOME LIKE A ROSE PETAL BLOWING FREE. REVOLUTION.

And there are visuals here so iconic you will see them refrenced in a bunch of other anime- namely the silhouettes spinning among the roses. That’s pretty unique for an OP. Not to mention its loaded with foreshadowing and ~symbolism~ for later events in the anime, in the most heartbreaking ways. AND it references stuff I really wish we COULD have seen, like Utena and Anthy in the armor which WAS something originally planned for the show. Still an epic design, even if we didn’t get to see it in the series proper- this is an op that is embedded into the very essence of the series, essentially. It’s not an advertisement for the anime, it’s part of the anime, it gives you clues in subtle ways rather than just spoiling, and lets you in on the themes of the show and missing pieces.

Also it’s gay.

That’s important.

So that’s the main list! These are a bunch of OPs I both love and think are objectively good and don’t have any major flaws on a technical level. I will be making another (Yes Another) slightly shorter list for OPs I really like but have to admit are not perfect on every level. But that’s for later

Also , some Honorable Mentions aka Mega Popular Anime OPs I DO think are good but not so much I don’t feel like they’re overplayed at times: Neon Genesis Evangelion OP, Cardcaptor Sakura OP 1, Attack on Titan OP 1 (Despite Everything, Still a Jam).

#anime openings #anime #monthly patreon posts #soul eater #sailor moon #cowboy bebop #revolutionary girl utena #fullmetal alchemist #shoujo kakumei utena #videos #long ish posts

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